Beginners Guide to Archery, by Roger Napleton

Written
by Roger Napleton – HWAC member – 8th
January 2017 – updated 21st
November 2019

Archery has not
changed over the last 4,500 years, except the equipment during the
past few decades, the way we use it, the rules and our approach
towards this ancient art of Toxophily, as it was named by the Greeks.
That’s why Archers are sometimes referred to as Toxophilytes, if
you want to use such an obscure term !

FIRST STEPS

Use a ‘BRACER’ (a
leather Arm Guard or hard plastic or Kevlar which is fitted to your
Bow Arm) on your Left arm if you are right handed, or on your Right
arm if you are left handed. This will protect your arm if the string
of the bow strikes you, as you loose (let go of) the arrow.

On your Right hand
(for the right handed archer) or the Left hand (for the left handed)
you will be wearing a ‘TAB’. This is a leather patch shaped to your
fingers which will protect them when you loose the bow string. Some
Archers prefer to wear a three-fingered glove.

Your upper body
clothing should be close fitting, giving as much clearance to the bow
string as possible. If the string catches, for example, on your
woolly jumper, then the arrow may not go where you intended !

Before you fitted
your Bracer and Tab, you were tested for ‘Eye Dominance’ to find out
which eye should be used mainly for aiming. During this test you
would have been asked to keep both eyes open, put your hands together
forming a small hole and look through the gap at a fixed point. Draw
your hands back close to your face, whilst still looking at the fixed
point. Your hands will lead you to your dominant eye.

The Bow you have
been given to learn with will have been selected according to your
physical size and the length of arrows you will be using.

The Arrows you will
have been given to learn with will be measured from your nose to the
“V” of your outstretched palm. This gives us a starting point
for your Draw Length. The arrows would be dangerous if they were
shorter than your Draw Length ! Usually, the arrow should be two
inches past the “V” of your outstretched hand.

BASIC SAFETY RULES

1: Never point a
Bow (with or without an Arrow) at another person.

2. Do not
draw up an Arrow unless you are on the shooting line facing the
Target.

3. Do not
stand on the shooting line until the Field Captain blows his/her
whistle.

4. When
not shooting, wait behind the Equipment line in a quiet and orderly
manner.

5: Do not go to retrieve your Arrows
until the Field Captain has blown the whistle.

6: Do not run up to the targets. There
may be Arrows in the ground which were short of the target.

7: Do
not stand behind someone who is pulling Arrows from the target. They
may well pull back into your eye !

8: If during shooting, you hear the
word ‘FAST’, Stop shooting. If you have an Arrow drawn in the Bow,
lower the Bow so that the Arrow is pointing at the ground in front of
you and slowly move the Arrow/String forward so it is safe. Remove
the Arrow from the bow. ONLY resume shooting when the Field Captain
gives the all clear.

9: Do not shoot on public land.

10: Do not shoot at all on your own.

REMEMBER the basic safety rules and that a Bow and Arrow is a lethal weapon to shoot with!

STANDING

The first thing to
do (after the Field Captain has blown the whistle for the start of
shooting) is approach the Shooting Line. Once there, stand astride
the line with your feet apart (shoulders width is just right to start
with).

You should now be facing down the
shooting line with your Bow Arm shoulder pointing at the target. Now,
‘Stand Tall’ with your shoulders back, chest out and stomach in
(Don’t Slouch)…..

HOLDING THE BOW

The Grip you adopt
should be just enough to support and direct the Bow without being
vice-like. Too tight a grip will only be uncomfortable and lead to
bad results. It’s not really a grip at all, because most of your
hand is open.

The pressure of the
Bow should be felt through the muscle at the base of the thumb. The
index finger should retain the Bow by lightly gripping it, while the
little finger exerts no pressure at all. The second and third finger
will only have light contact with the bow handle.

After some practice with this grip you
will forget all about it and it will become second nature to you.
Your Bow hand will now remain in this ‘Grip’ for the duration of the
shot.

NOCKING THE ARROW

This is the term we use to describe
the act of placing the arrow on the Bowstring.

With your Arrow
hand (the one that is not holding the Bow), remove an Arrow from the
quiver belted to your side. Rest the shaft of the Arrow on the ‘Arrow
Rest’ (this is the plastic hooked shelf on the side of the Bow) , and
insert the Nock of the Arrow (this is the ‘V’ shaped piece of plastic
behind the Fletchings) on to the Bowstring. This should be done with
the ‘Cock’ Fletching (the feather or plastic vane of a different
colour to the other two (the Hens) facing towards you i.e. away from
the Bow. There should be marks on the bowstring or raised sections,
which are the Nocking Points, showing where to locate the Arrow Nock.

HOLDING THE STRING

The way we place
our fingers on to the string is a most important step in shooting as
this will control the action of the string relative to the Arrow.

The first finger
goes above the Arrow with the second and third fingers below. Your
little finger curls into the palm of your hand out of the way. The
string should be on the top section of your fingers, just above the
top bend. This is known as the ‘MEDITERRANEAN’ Loose. Later on, you
may wish to change to “three-fingers below” (see later).

The Tab on your
fingers may feel a little strange at first, but without this the
friction of the string would make your fingers quite sore, very
quickly !

DRAWING UP THE ARROW

With Bow in ‘Bow hand’, ‘Arrow nocked’
and Mediterranean finger position in place on the string, you are now
ready to Draw up your first Arrow. Turn your head towards the Target
and then fully extend your Bow arm towards the Target.

Now, draw the Arrow
back smoothly towards your face. Your string hand should Anchor i.e.
locate in position underneath your chin (upper side of your first
finger touching it or maybe touching corner of your mouth).

The string should
touch the side of both your chin and nose at full draw to form
Reference Points (points you can always return to which will give
consistency to the loose).

LOOSING THE ARROW

This is a term used to describe the
action of letting go of the Arrow.

The Loose should be
a smooth and relaxed action. It is achieved by relaxing the hold you
have (via the Mediterranean finger position) on the string, whilst
still pulling back with your arm and shoulder.

THE FOLLOW THROUGH

This is an
important part of the procedure which is often overlooked ! After
loosing the Arrow, the string hand should continue backwards until it
comes to rest by your ear. The Bow arm remains raised and in line
with the shot, until the Arrow hits the Target.

Once the Arrow hits
its mark, the Bow arm may be dropped, whereupon the next shot can beprepared
in the Bow.

SIGHT PIN ADJUSTMENT

On your first Bow
you may have a Pin which is situated approximately 2 4 inches
above the grip section. This is your Sight Pin. They get more
complicated on the more advanced Bows but the principle of adjusting
them remains the same.

Once you have
Nocked an Arrow and are at Full Draw you can Aim ! This is done by
aligning the Sight Pin with the Gold on the Target Face. Then you
loose the Arrow and all being well, it will go where you aimed it !

If this does not
happen, as is often the case during “Sighters” (the first 6
Arrows shot on a given round being shot, to enable you to set your
Sights) you will need to make adjustments to the position of the
Sight Pin.

MOVING THE GROUP

To move a group of
Arrows around the Target, using your Sight Pin adjustment ( ie. ‘UP’
‘DOWN’ ‘LEFT’ ‘RIGHT’ ), is really quite simple. Just remember to
follow the Arrow direction by moving your Sight Pin in the same
direction.

Arrows Low, Lower the PinArrows High, Move Pin Up

Arrows Left, Move Pin LeftArrows Right, Move Pin Right

A TIP – If you
lift your Bow to arm’s length (as if you are going to shoot) and
place the Pin on Gold, you can see how far away from your Pin (say,
to the left your Arrows are (maybe a 1/4 of an inch). Now, move your
Pin towards the Arrows (1/4 of an inch to the left) and then
re shoot.

This may be done between Arrows, so
that at the end of the first 6 Arrows (Sighters) you will be on Gold
!

ARROW RETRIEVAL

Once the Field
Captain blows the All Clear Whistle (usually three blasts), you may
proceed towards the Target to retrieve your Arrows.

This should be done
in an orderly manner, watching out on the ground as you go so that
you do not tread on any Arrows which may have fallen short. If you
find any of these, they should be carefully pulled out in the
direction they were shot from, NOT lifted up, as this will bend the
Arrow.

Once at the Target,
study where your Arrows actually landed and note the grouping. After
this, the Arrows may be removed from the Target, making sure that
no-one is standing behind you. Only one or two (one either side)
Archers should do this, with all others standing well back from the
Target face.

Never stand behind someone who is
pulling Arrows from the Boss, because their arm may come back with a
jerk and the end of the Arrow could go into your eye !

The non pulling hand should be
placed on the Target with fingers outstretched and either side of the
Arrow being pulled. The pulling hand should take a grip of the Arrow
close to the Target face and then pulled straight back. NOT UP, DOWN
or SIDEWAYS.

Arrows should then
be sorted out and returned to their owners. After this you can walk
back to the equipment line and await the Field Captain’s whistle
(usually one blast) to commence shooting again.

SCORING

Once your Arrows
are Grouping together you will want to start scoring just for
the fun of it to start with. This will also give you a record of your
Arrows shot during one session.

There are generally
two types of Scoring used for Target Archery – ‘Imperial’ and
‘Metric’.

IMPERIAL
: The Target Face is divided into 5 areas of colour. Gold = 9 points,
Red = 7, Blue 5, Black = 3 and White = 1 point. This method of
scoring is still used on traditional Archery, based around GNAS
(Grand National Archery Society), but most scoring is now based
around World Archery (WA) rules, which are closer to Metric.

Different ‘Rounds’
(the name given to a set number of Arrows shot over set distances)
use different types of scoring, some ‘Imperial’ and some ‘Metric’ –
now all within WA Rules.

Arrows which land on the dividing line between one number and another (even if it is just touching) count as the higher number this is known as a ‘Line Cutter’.

his
is an example of a standard SCORE CARD.

High
Weald Archery Club



Archer
Roger Napleton

Bowstyle

C

R

BB

LB

Round
PORTSMOUTH

Date
12TH
JANUARY 2017

1/2
Doz

1/2
Doz

Hits

Golds

x’S

Score

R/Total

9

9

7

7

7

5

44

10

9

8

8

7

5

47

91

91

9

9

9

5

5

5

42

7

7

7

5

3

3

32

79

170

10

9

9

8

8

7

51

9

9

7

7

5

5

42

93

263

9

9

9

8

7

7

49

9

9

8

8

8

7

49

98

361

8

8

8

8

7

7

46

10

9

9

8

7

7

50

96

457

Archers
Signature R W Napleton

Scorers
Signature P F Archer

PROTOCOL

When arriving at the club please
follow these few simple rules:

Arrive earlier than the actual start
time shown for Sighters, otherwise you will hold up everyone else !

Once there, help
the others in setting out the field or range with the equipment. Work
together to get it done faster.

Set up your own equipment and check
your sight setting for the first distance to be shot.

When the Field Captain gives the all
clear whistle to start shooting Sighters, proceed to the shooting
line and continue.

NB. Should you
unavoidably arrive late, when others have started shooting, please be
as quiet as possible (don’t shout out greetings to your friends, for
example). Set up your equipment and join in the next convenient ‘END’
(often 6 Arrows, if you’re practising), but in most rounds, each
END is usually is only 3 arrows).

When you have
finished shooting for the session, ALL the equipment should be put
away again – including unpinning Target Faces and putting them back
on the racks – and with everyone’s help, this makes the task
quick and easy.

Dress warmly and
comfortably for shooting, with solid footwear if it is wet (for
outdoor shooting). Colour is optional during Club Rounds but when
shooting Tournaments, the colours are restricted to ‘Dark Green’
(Sherwood Green) and ‘White’ or the latest Club Livery, but
camouflage/military clothing is not allowed.

BUYING YOUR FIRST BOW, ARROWS
AND OTHER BITS

This is NOT
a task to undertake on your own, without the help and guidance of an
experienced member of the Club (or a specialist Archery shop) to
guide you through the pitfalls surrounding this complicated subject.

A wrong choice
at this early stage could either give you bad habits, due to a
mis match of equipment to Archer, or a lot of disappointments
which may lead to you giving up Archery. In either case, you may
have wasted a lot of time and money.

Your first Bow and
Arrows should be suitable for your needs at the present time, not the
future. To say you will grow into a Bow is wrong. You need to be
measured for the correct draw-length and set up with an appropriate
draw weight for a beginner.

Your first Bow and
Arrows will serve you well for the first six to twelve months, whilst
your body muscles and technique settle into your new found sport.
After this time you may find a change is in order, which you will be
able to plan for, enabling you to take full advantage of all the
experience you will have gained.

Your First Bow will probably be one of
the Basic types generally available. They are usually very well made
and reliable to use whilst giving good value for money.

The Arrows you buy
will probably be made of a basic alloy material, which will be
matched both to you and your bow.

Second-hand
equipment is a good choice for the beginner and improver alike as you
can save a lot of money. Bows do not wear out if they are looked
after properly. Arrows may not wear so well, so get some advice. In
any case, they may not be the correct length for you or suit your
set up, because they need to more than match your draw-length,
so check that at the very beginning. Remember, get some advice
before you buy !

The rest of your
equipment can either be bought new or second-hand as you wish. As
these items will serve you well for many years to come, your initial
expense may turn out to be an investment.

The equipment
covered by this category is as follows – Bracer, Tab, Bow Stringer,
Quiver, Equipment Case & Bow Sight (this could be a cheaper model
to start with which can be sold with the bow at a future date).

SPARES

When buying your
Bow and Arrows, it is worth spending extra on spare items which may
need replacement later.

These items include
: Fletchings (both ‘Cock’ & ‘Hens, different colours),
Nocks (for your Arrows), Glue (for both Fletchings & Nocks), Glue
(for the Piles of the Arrows – a heat type is used on these), Beeswax
(for the string) & Nock Sets (for the string Nocking Point).
“Nock Set” Pliers can be bought if you wish, but you can usually
borrow some to start with, if you want to save some money, or just
use ordinary pliers.

Alternatively, you can ask the Archery
Shop to assemble the arrows for you to the correct length.

If you decide to shoot without a Sight
and without weights or stabilisers, this is called Barebow and
requires very different techniques for aiming and shooting, which
will be the subject of another paper.

NOTE

DON’T buy any Stabilisers to start
with. These may look impressive, but they will NOT help beginners at
all.

In fact, they would probably hinder
the learning process and give you bad habits. When the time comes
(usually after a period of 6 9 months), discuss this subject
with the club coach who will advise you on this and other matters.

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